


Wanting To Become A Lily - And The Story of Tifa

by sadifura



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Trans Female Character, Transitioning, basically the story of how tifa became tifa, f/f if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23398705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadifura/pseuds/sadifura
Summary: Cloud took a deep breath in, looking at the horizon, and said —“I want to become me.”And so Tifa tells her questioning friend the story of how she became the woman she is today.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	Wanting To Become A Lily - And The Story of Tifa

**Author's Note:**

> thanks bee for transbian cloud headcanon juice

It was after the battle with Sepiroth that Cloud wanted to tell Tifa something. He…no…she? Wanted to tell her the truth about something she came to the realization to, but she didn’t know what.

Internally, she was becoming more preferable, no, yearning, towards “she” pronouns. That wasn’t the odd bit after she separated her mind from what she thought was Zack Fair’s false image, though.

It was the event at the Honey Bee Inn.

That dress she wore, the feeling of Aerith and Tifa giving her a wig and adorning her with makeup; she liked it. No, she loved it. 

The only display of individuality she could’ve shown outside of her false pretense of “Perfect Man Zack Fair”.

She was sitting next to Tifa, on a ruined building. Marlene was with Barrett, probably cuddling him and hanging on to him for dear life; her father was back, and not dead.

Tifa turned to look at Cloud, and immediately a fearful blush grew on her face.

“Cloud, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting cagey around me all day.”

Cloud fidgeted. “I…I want to tell you something.”

Tifa looked quizzically at her, smiling. “You can tell me anything, Cloud. You’re my best friend.”

Cloud took a deep breath in, looking at the horizon, and said —

“I want to become me.”

Tifa tilted her head, confused. “What are you talking about, Cloud? You’re already you.”

Cloud shook her head and fumbled with her fingers.

“No, that’s not it. I want to become the me I always wanted to be. The me you saw this whole time was just a fake image, this false pretense of “masculine, perfect hero” that I could never live up to.”

Tifa smiled at her, as if she understood. (She could never understand. Could she?)

“Oh, you’re like me, huh?”

“What do you mean?” 

Tifa smiled, whispering in her ear. “Back when I was younger, I wasn’t allowed to always…look like this. I had to be…ahem, raised as a boy when I was younger.”

Cloud looked at her, and pondered. Raised as a boy? You mean, dressed in the garb of one, or…was she like her?

“And whenever I would dress like a girl, nobody would act like I was one. They’d treat me like some sort of joke.

So I decided that I’d run away from my parents and live how I wanted. That’s how I met Barrett. I told Barrett that I wanted to be how I always was, and he smiled and nodded. He said, ‘Honey, I know where I could get you some stuff that could help you be yourself, you know, on the cheap.’ And so he did.

At first I kinda looked awkward “en-femme”, but that was kind of the way I had to dress to survive. I was wearing the kind of fineries I dressed you up in the Honey Bee Inn, actually; some of those dresses were my old ones. But like…women don’t all wear that stuff, ya know? I’m more of a butch kinda gal. You know what I mean. So I took the medicine Barrett got me on the cheap, and it helped me, but I still wanted to feel more…myself. 

“So I asked Barrett, ‘Do you think I’m ready? To like…you know, augment myself?’ A lot of trans folk here in the resistance, he gives assistance to them with certain augmentation and removals and whatnot. Not all trans people here want that, but I really wanted to be what I was all along, you know? So he said, ‘If you’re brave enough, I could do some augmenting and removing if you think you’re ready. Just be prepared to not fight for us for awhile, because you’ll be recovering, and you’ll have to find other ways to entertain yourself for a long time.’

“I accepted that. When the first surgery happened, he put me to sleep with some bootleg anesthetic he got off the streets. I had a minor reaction, but I managed to survive.”

She gestured to her breasts. “’S how I got these, see? The second and third surgeries left me unable to fight for awhile. It’s amazing what stuff affects you “down there” can do to your legs and hips, pain wise. And then there was the voice training; that was hard, I had to sing the highest note of my head voice and TALK like that. But I managed to find a middle ground between my older voice and my newer one.

“Anyway, Cloud, I know you’re feeling some new things that are a bit strange, since you’ve never had a chance to question yourself before, but I’m sure that no matter what kind of girl you turn out to be, you’ll always be my dearest treasure.”

Tifa placed a hand on Cloud’s, and Cloud grew into a slight smile.

Then, she said something, turning to Tifa.

“Tifa. I like the name Cloud and all…but in memory of Aerith, in private, can you call me Lily?”

Tifa pondered. “Sure, Lily. You’re the loveliest lily of them all.”


End file.
